UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Deer hunters can apply for a new "Private Land Only" tag for antlerless deer this year, beginning Monday, Aug. 28. These tags allow hunters to take a second doe in specified counties where antlerless tags are left, explains a wildlife biologist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

"This hunt is limited to private lands and a few public properties," says Gary San Julian, professor of wildlife resources. "Check the Pennsylvania Game Commission's web site at http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/ for details."

As of Aug. 24, no tags were left in Cambria, Cameron, Carbon, Clinton, Elk, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Somerset, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties.

This change is one of several changes in this year's deer hunting regulations. The game commission also added an early muzzleloader season for anterless deer on Oct. 21, 23 and 24.

Hunters with both proper licenses and an antlerless permit also will be able to hunt both bucks and does on the last day of buck season -- Saturday, Dec. 9.

Also, junior and senior hunters with proper licenses and doe tags will be able to take a doe anytime during the regular buck season.

"The Game Commission is trying to get the deer herd down to a manageable size," says San Julian. "To make a significant change in the population, you have to remove does."

An estimated 1.4 million to 1.5 million deer will be roaming the forests at the start of this year's season, he explains. "We probably have more deer now than we ever have in the history of this state."

The large herd is a problem because of the increased human-deer interactions, San Julian explains. "We're losing over $76 million each year in grain crops in Pennsylvania," he says. "We're picking up more than 40,000 deer each year off the highways, costing insurance companies and motorists more than $80 million. We're also probably hitting another 40,000 deer that go off into the woods to die and are not picked up."

Deer also eat the young vegetation in forests, wiping out millions of dollars each year in timber regeneration. "Deer are preventing natural regeneration of important timber species, such as oak," San Julian says. "Many people in the forestry business now have to fence their land to get regeneration. The deer herd is significantly altering the biodiversity and structure of our woods."

Recent mild winters, favorable acorn crops and access to agricultural lands have provided good growing conditions for deer. "A doe in a good habitat will reproduce 1.7 fawns each year," San Julian says.

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EDITORS: Gary San Julian can be reached at 814-863-0401.

Contacts: Kim Dionis KDionis@psu.edu 814-863-2703 814-865-1068 fax